Daniel Roberts (18 February 1789 – 18 February 1869) was an officer in the Royal Navy who made a series of cameo-like appearances in the lives of Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Edward Ellerker Williams, and Edward John Trelawny. Roberts is best known for having designed and supervised the construction of Shelley's schooner, Don Juan, and Lord Byron's yacht, Bolivar.

Early life Daniel Roberts was born on 18 February 1789 in Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, England; he died on his 80th birthday at three in the afternoon on the Island of La Maddalena off the northern coast of Sardinia. When his father Captain Henry Roberts died, Daniel was seven. Henry left his wife Harriet to care for their eight children. Nothing has been written about Daniel Roberts' childhood until, at the age of 10, he enlisted in the Royal Navy as a Volunteer 1st Class.

Naval career His career in the Royal Navy followed an atypical path. On enlisting (at the age of 10) in July 1799, he was assigned to the 64-gun (a ship captured from the Dutch, on 22 October 1795), stationed at the Nore (where the River Thames meets the North Sea).James, William M., The Naval History of Great Britain, Vol.4, pp.205-7 He spent four months aboard Oversyssel and then, as his service records reveal, he was discharged from the ship in November 1799.British Naval Archives, Memorandum of Service Roberts' naval Memorandum of Service is blank for 21 months until it shows he was assigned as an A.B. (Able seaman) to HMS Royal William at Portsmouth. Since the Navy preferred new enlistees be at least 13 years old, the most probable scenario is Roberts spent the next 20 months in a private school, which specialized in teaching navigation and preparing boys for sea. After seven weeks aboard Royal William, he was on shore for eight months until 13 June 1802, when he was ordered aboard , where at age 13 he served as a midshipman. After Roberts had served on board the Blenheim for four months, the vessel was ordered to be stored, and he was again on shore for another eight months.

On 28 June 1803, he was assigned to the recently launched , a 36-gun frigate. It was here, under a prominent naval personality, Captain Henry Blackwood, that at the age of 15, Daniel Roberts first experienced naval warfare in an assault on French vessels off Boulogne pier, in October 1804. After serving for almost two years under Captain Blackwood, and five months before Euryalus was to make a significant contribution to Nelson's fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar, Roberts was again on shore for three months. On 8 April 1805, he joined a hospital ship, for one month; then back on Euryalus for just two weeks and five days until on 23 August 1805 he joined another 36-gun frigate, , stationed off the French coast in the Bay of Biscay. This ship did not join in the Battle of Trafalgar; instead she was part of the fleet, which was blockading the French coast. In August 1806, young midshipman Roberts was provided a few days of excitement when his ship almost captured Napoléon Bonaparte's younger brother Jérôme Bonaparte, captain of the Vétéran.

Roberts served aboard Penelope until 26 May 1807, when Captain William Robert Broughton took command of , a larger 74-gun Ship of the Line. How many members of his crew Captain Broughton took with him to Illustrious is not known; that Roberts, at the age of 18, was one of them, is proof that his Captain valued his service. Upon joining Illustrious, Roberts was made a Master's mate. Roberts was again on a ship that was to enter into combat. On the night of 11 April 1809, a British fleet of 25 ships attacked a powerful squadron of French ships anchored in the Basque Roads, a sheltered bay on the Biscay shore of France, bounded by the Ile d'Oléron to the west and Île de Ré to the north. The Battle of Basque Roads was initiated when the British sent several explosion ships into the Roads to blow holes in a mile-long boom of heavy spars and chains the French had placed to prevent enemy vessels from reaching their warships.

In the attack all but two of the French ships were driven ashore. Although the engagement was to last three days, the British failed to destroy the French fleet; however, one result of the engagement was that on 12 July 1809, Master's mate Daniel Roberts, age 20, was promoted to lieutenant. For the next two years he was on board , a 36-gun frigate. On 10 January 1810, Roberts' ship chased the 14-gun French privateer Charles, but her prey was lost in a thick fog. The following day, the Phoenix discovered her adversary anchored close to the French coast. A boarding attack was launched and, when Charles, resisted, one British marine was killed and another wounded. In this engagement Roberts was in charge of one of the boats that carried marines and seamen who boarded the Charles. The attack succeeded, and on board the prize they found two English masters and 13 seamen who had been taken out of vessels a few days previously.

This event led to Roberts' court martial. His conduct during the battle was criticized by a marine officer of Phoenix, Lieutenant William Murray, who wrote a letter of accusation to the captain of the ship. Consequently, a commission to judge Roberts' professional behaviour was formed. On 17 April 1810 not only were all the accusations discharged, his behaviour was considered worthy and honourable while Murray's accusation were labelled as "totally unfounded and subversive of the discipline of the Service."British Naval Archives, Daniel Roberts, Record of Court Martial 1810, Within the next few months, Phoenix sailed to the East Indies where she would remain for almost a year. On 1 April 1811, Roberts rejoined HMS Illustrious, where in 1809 he had served as a Masters Mate under Captain William Robert Broughton; now he was wearing the uniform of an officer. Three months later, his ship was engaged in combat with the enemy in the invasion of Java.

Roberts' posting to Illustrious was short lived, for on 5 October 1811, he was sent home with the dispatches. Roberts' service record does not indicate where he was stationed from 17 May 1812 until he was posted to a ship of his own on 20 September 1815. Although he held the rank of commander it was proper for his crew to call him Captain. The entry in his Memorandum of Service, following that of promotion to Commander, was his assignment to on 20 September 1815. This vessel was built in 1797, at Gravesend, as a 38-gun frigate. When Roberts joined the ship, she was a troopship. The Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815) occurred three months before he took command of Hydra; the war had ended. After being in the Baltic for two months before the Treaty of Paris (1815) was signed, he sailed for the West Indies, on 12 November 1815.

Roberts commanded his troopship for two years. He returned to England from Canada between 3 September 1817, when the following article was published in ‘'The Edinburgh Observer'’ and 12 November 1817, when he was discharged from the Hydra.

Retirement There is no written record of Roberts' activities between the time of his discharge, 12 November 1817, and when he was in the south of France in May 1820. The funds he accumulated from his eighteen years in service plus his retirement pension was enough for him not to feel the need to find employment. It was common for military officers with small incomes to retire to the continent where the cost of living was much lower than in England. France, Switzerland and Italy were favourites. Roberts documented his retirement in a series of Journals, which are now housed in the Keats-Shelley Memorial House in Rome. These Journals are covered in detail in A Biography of Captain Daniel Roberts by Donald Prell.Prell, Donald, A Biography of Captain Daniel Roberts, Strand Publishing, Palm Springs (2010), They cover a span of 20 years, from 18 May 1820 to 3 August 1840, with the exception of the time Roberts was with Byron, Shelley and the other members of their Pisan Circle.

Roberts, Shelley and Byron Daniel Roberts was responsible for the design and construction of Shelley's schooner, Don Juan, and Lord Byron's yacht, Bolivar. A week before Shelley and Williams were drowned in a storm off of the coast of Italy (8 July 1822), Roberts had sailed with them in the Don Juan on the exact reverse course they were taking when the tragedy occurred.Keats-Shelley Journal, The Sinking of the Don Juan Revisited, by Donald B. Prell. LVI, 2007.pp.136-154. In June 1823, Byron asked Roberts to join his entourage, which was to sail to Greece. Roberts declined the invitation, preferring to remain in Genoa; he did however join with Byron's banker in locating and arranging for the charter of the merchant brig Hercules, the vessel that took Byron to Missolonghi, where he died in 1824. Throughout his life, Roberts maintained a close friendship with Edward Trelawny. It was Trelawny who asked Roberts to design the boats for the poets. A year following the fatal accident, Roberts purchased the remains of the schooner Don Juan''' and after making repairs, he sailed it single-handed for several years. After losing the Don Juan Roberts purchased the Bolivar, which Byron had sold prior to going to Greece. These voyages are fully covered in his Journals. Roberts also continued corresponding with other members of the Pisan Circle, such as Mary Shelley and Claire Clairmont.

Last years The final entry in Roberts' Journal IV:

Roberts did not record when he was no longer living on his boat. From the above journal entry, it is known he acquired a vineyard sometime before August 1840. Records indicate it was located on the northeastern shore of La Maddalena. His last years are covered by Authors Giovanna Sotgiu and Alberto Sega in their book describing a group of English citizens who lived in La Maddalena during the 19th century. A chapter is dedicated to Captain Roberts.Sotgiu, Giovanna and Sega, Alberto, Inglesi neli’arcipelago. Da Nelson alla fine dell‘Ottocento, (2005)

In 1857, when Edward Trelawny was preparing to publish his Recollections of the last days of Shelley and Byron, he asked Roberts to make a sketch of Casa Magni, where Shelley had been living at the time of his drowning. Trelawny not only included Robert's sketch, he published a number of extracts from Robert's letters.Trelawny, Edward John, Recollections of the last days of Shelley and Byron, London:Moxon (1858) Roberts was to live another eleven years. He died on his 80th birthday, 18 February 1869 at 3:00 in the afternoon. No details can be found as to the cause of his death.

Timeline

18 February 1789 Captain Roberts was born in Shoreham, West Sussex, England.

23 March 1789 New Shoreham baptism records show that a Daniel Roberts, son of Henry and Harriett Roberts was baptized on that date.

25 August 1796 Henry Roberts, Captain of the UNDAUNTED, died in the West Indies, where he caught yellow fever.Times, 14 December 1796.

30 July 1799 Daniel Roberts entered the Navy as Volunteer First Class. He spent four months on board the OVERYSSEL 64; stationed at the Nore under Capt. John Bazely.

1 August 1801 Spends eight weeks at Portsmouth, aboard HBMS ROYAL WILLIAM, under Capt. Fras. Pickmore.

1 June 1802 From June to Oct. 1802, he served as Midshipman on board BLENHEIM, under Capt. Philip Turner Bower.

1 June 1803 Joined the newly launched HMS EURYALUS 36, under Captain Hon. Henry Blackwood; staying with the ship until 5 January 1805.

1 August 1805 Stationed on the coast of France in the PENELOPE 36 and, as Master's Mate, in the ILLUSTRIOUS 74, both commanded by Capt. Wm. Robt. Broughton.

12 July 1809 Promoted to the rank of Lieutenant.

14 July 1809 Serves almost two years on the Home and East India stations aboard the PHOENIX 36, under Capt. Zachary Mudge.

17 May 1810 Court Martial accusations discharged, his behavior was considered worthy and honorableBritish Naval Archives, Daniel Roberts, Record of Court Martial 1810.